Connecticut western news., 1887-03-23
STAMMERING.
What an Elocutionist Says
 About Defects in Speech,
stammering Cured Through the Moral
 as We'll as the Physical Nature,

stammering Cured Through the Moral
 as We'll as the Physical Nature.
 "Stammering, stuttering and hesita- tion," lady teacher of elocution who has had under her care many young ladies and gentlemen suffering with such defects of speech, said to Wash ington Star reporter, 'are due to the improper use of the vocal organs. Some time these three defects are found to- gether, Stammering is, the worst diff culty:F Sometimes stammering appears in ono form and sometimes in another; in fact no two cases are precisely alike. The worst prevalent infrmity-it is really an infirmity-is the wrong use of the lip, too much lip you may say. You see face that might otherwise be hand some, dis6gured by habit of lifting up tine upper lip on one side so as to show the canine tooth. Another infirmity is lack of proper control over the move ments of the tongue. No, not too loose tongue. The trouble is that the tongue is not loose enough, not flexible enough. Very few, even among educated people, speak correctly, that is, articulate Eng fish sounds correctly and speak pure English, and yet the people in this coun- try speak better English than is spoken in England.
 "Whenever any one announces that he will cure stammering and suffering by means of artificial appliances, or by some secret remedy, or by drugs of any kind," said the lady, "you can set him down as a quack. Drugs will no more cure stammering than they will set limb, for really the cure of stammering comes very near being a surgical operation, in sense, because it is the restoration of the vocal organs to their proper functions. The trouble is with the tongue and the lips and the closing of the throat. These organs become denaturalized in their use. Inever take case without having a responsible physician first examine the throat. After he pron ounces the organs normal and in proper condition for me to work, I undertake the case. I have seldom had case in which there was not some work for the physician to do, for the reason that the wrong use of the vocal organs causes them to be diseased. Bronchitis and throat diseases are in many cases due to the wrong use of the organs.
 "The cure," she went on, '.is within the persons self, and depends upon his moral as we'll as physical nature. You must lift up his moral nature. Most ol those who suffer from these defects you will notice are loose -kneed and walk with shambling gait, with heads down. all the effect of this infrmity. The first thing I try to do is to lift the person up, te make him free, for his moral nature dominates his physical. My system i: simple, philosophical and highly mora in it's nature. No youth can possibly pass through it without having his mora as we'll as physical self benefited. All sufferers from these defects are exceed ingly sensitive, one of the results of thei infrmity. To person of culture and re fnement such an infirmity is more ter. rible.
 It is almost impossible to know wha causes the defects. ask parents always when they bring cases to me, if they can tell what caused it. Some say that it came from fever and variety of sup posed causes are given. Sometimes i is the effect of imitation. It is frequent ly known to exist in families for severa generations. Defects of this character when inherited are harder to cure, and when inherited from the mother, th hardest of all. The most difficult case
 ever had was one of this kind. It i thought by many who have not in formed themselves that stammering i caused by nervousness. If that were true nearly all women and great many mer and children would stammcr. On the contrary, however, it IS proved clearl, that the stammering or defect in speecl causes the nervousness. I am of tn opinion from observation that the habi is very infrequently contracted by imita tion, for the reason that often one chile in family will stammer and the other will not. The older brother perhap will have the defect and not one of tn other children will stammer, thoug they have been together always. What ever the cause, when cure is once es tablished there is no more danger of
 return of the defect or habit, than ther is of its occurrence in person who neve stammered at all."
 Rights of the Blind in Streets.